This is what South Africans were arrested for when breaking lockdown rules

 ·12 Aug 2020

Justice and Correctional Services minister Ronald Lamola has released new data focusing on the number of South Africans which have been prosecuted for breaking lockdown rules since 26 March.

Lamola, who was responding in a written parliamentary Q&A, said that these cases were first referred to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) for screening.

He explained that if a reasonable prospect of success is determined by the screening prosecutor, the case is then enrolled and registered on the Integrated Case Management System.

The data shows that a total of 24,092 cases where enrolled on the system between 26 March and 30 June. In these cases, 46,812 people stood accused of breaking lockdown regulations.

It should be noted that this data is not representative of successful convictions.

Instead, Lamola presented the following table which shows the number of convicted cases per alert level.


What people were arrested for

The data shows that the majority of convicted cases relate to the failure to confine to residence during the lockdown period.

The below tables a breakdown of the total of 1,572 convicted cases per contravention and per alert level.

Level 5

Alert level and contravention Cases Accused
Total Level 5 (26 March – 30 April)  910 1 567
Convene and/or attend a gathering as defined during the period of lockdown 12 13
Convening a gathering in contravention of the Disaster Management Act Regulations 52 234
Corporation(s)/Firm(s): Failure to comply with a request made by the National Disaster Management Centre/Provincial Disaster Management Centre/Municipal Disaster Management Centre 1 1
Evicting a person(s) from his/her/their formal or informal residence or a farm dwelling place of residence during the lockdown period 1 1
Failure by a place not involved in the provision of essential goods or service to remain closed to all persons during the duration of the lockdown 11 11
Failure by an electronic communications service provider to comply with a directive by the Director-General: Health to provide information for inclusion in the COVID-19 Tracing Database 3 3
Failure by any business or other entity other than a business or entity involved in the manufacturing, supply, or provision of an essential good or service to cease operations during the lockdown 19 22
Failure by premises selling liquor which provide accommodation to implement measures to stop the spread of Covid-19 1 1
Failure to be confined to one’s place of residence for the duration of the national state of disaster in Alert Level 4 2 2
Failure to close a place or premises normally open to the public where religious, cultural, sporting, entertainment. recreational, exhibitional, organisational or similar activities may take place, during the duration of the national state of disaster in 2 2
Failure to comply with a prohibition of movement between provinces during the period of the lockdown 11 11
Failure to comply with a prohibition of movement between the metropolitan and district areas during the period of the lockdown 8 10
Failure to confine oneself to his or her place of residence during the period of the lockdown 750 1 215
Misrepresentation of own or any persons infected status with Covid-19 1 1
Natural persons: Failure to comply with a request made by the National Disaster Management Centre/Provincial Disaster Management Centre/Municipal Disaster Management Centre 3 3
Operating a commuter transport services, passenger rail services, bus services, taxi services, e-hailing services, maritime and air passenger transport contrary to Disaster Management Regulations 5 5
Operating a retail store or shopping mall during the lockdown period other than for selling essential goods and/or failure to comply with prescribed safety measures 27 31
Permitting more than 50 persons at premises where liquor is sold and consumed in contravention of the Disaster Management Act Regulations 1 1

Level 4

Alert level and contravention Cases Accused
Total Level 4 (May)  591 899
Convene and/or attend a gathering as defined during the period of lockdown 7 7
Convening a gathering in contravention of the Disaster Management Act Regulations 15 57
Convening a gathering or hindering, interfering with, or obstructing an enforcement officer in the exercise of his or her powers, or the performance of his or her duties for the duration of the national state of disaster in Alert Level 4 5 5
Failure by a place not involved in the provision of essential goods or service to remain closed to all persons during the duration of the lockdown 6 6
Failure by an electronic communications service provider to comply with a directive by the director-general: Health to provide information for inclusion in the Covid-19 tracing database 1 1
Failure by any business or other entity other than a business or entity involved in the manufacturing, supply, or provision of an essential good or service to cease operations during the lockdown 92 124
Failure to be confined to one’s place of residence for the duration of the national state of disaster in Alert Level 4 27 33
Failure to be confined to one’s place of residence from 20H00 until 05H00 daily for the duration of the national state of disaster in Alert Level 4, other as permitted by law 29 43
Failure to comply with a prohibition of movement between provinces during the period of the lockdown 19 23
Failure to comply with a prohibition of movement between the metropolitan and district areas during the period of the lockdown 323 527
Failure to keep closed a listed place or premises normally open to the public or where people may gather for the duration of the national state of disaster in Alert Level 4 3 3
Issuing of special or events liquor licensing during the duration of the national state of disaster 1 3
Leaving one’s place of residence during the duration of the national state of disaster in Alert Level 4 other than as permitted by law 11 11
Misrepresenting that one is or any other person is infected with Covid-19 1 1
Moving between provinces, metropolitan areas and districts of the national state of disaster in Alert Level 4, other than as provided for in law 9 9
Natural Persons: Failure to comply with a request made by the National Disaster Management Centre / Provincial Disaster Management Centre / Municipal Disaster Management Centre 1 1
Operating a commuter transport services, passenger rail services, bus services, taxi services, e-hailing services, maritime and air passenger transport contrary to Disaster Management Regulations 3 5
Operating a retail store or shopping mall during the lockdown period other than for selling essential goods and/or failure to comply with prescribed safety measures 10 10
Selling of tobacco, tobacco products, e- cigarettes and related products for the duration of the national state of disaster in Alert Level 4 15 16
Selling other goods by a retail store that are not permitted to be sold in terms of the Table 1 duration of the national state of disaster in Alert Level 4 1 1
Selling, dispensing and distribution of liquor during the duration of the national state of disaster in Alert Level 4 2 3
Transporting liquor during the duration of the national state of disaster in Alert Level 4 other than where alcohol is required for an authorised purpose 3 3

Level 3

Alert level and contravention Cases Accused
Total Level 3 (June)  71 96
Convening a gathering or hindering, interfering with, or obstructing an enforcement officer in the exercise of his or her powers, or the performance of his or her duties for the duration of the national state of disaster in Alert Level 4 1 1
Disclosing any information contained in the Covid-19 tracing database or any information obtained during the duration of the national state of disaster without authority 1 1
Failure by any business or other entity other than a business or entity involved in the manufacturing, supply, or provision of an essential good or service to cease operations during the lockdown 1 1
Failure to be confined to one’s place of residence for the duration of the national state of disaster in Alert Level 4 5 11
Failure to be confined to one’s place of residence from 20h00 until 05h00 daily for the duration of the national state of disaster in Alert Level 4 10 10
Failure to comply with a prohibition of movement between provinces during the period of the lockdown 4 6
Failure to confine oneself to his or her place of residence during the period of the lockdown 27 36
Failure to keep closed a listed place or premises normally open to the public or where people may gather for the duration of the national state of disaster in Alert Level 4 1 1
Moving between provinces, metropolitan areas and districts of the national state of disaster in Alert Level 4, other than as provided for in law 6 14
Operating a commuter transport services, passenger rail services, bus services, taxi services, e-hailing services, maritime and air passenger transport contrary to Disaster Management Regulations 5 5
Operating a retail store or shopping mall during the lockdown period other than for selling essential goods and/or failure to comply with prescribed safety measures 2 2
Selling of tobacco, tobacco products, e-cigarettes and related products for the duration of the national state of disaster in Alert Level 4 5 5
Selling tobacco, tobacco products, e-cigarettes and related products, other than for export during the duration of the national state of disaster under Alert Level 3 2 2
Selling, dispensing and distribution of liquor during the duration of the national state of disaster in Alert Level 4 1 1

Punishments

The data shows that of the 1,572 convicted cases, the majority of people faced some sort of fine. Notably, 88 people face imprisonment for breaching the regulations.

Lamola presented the following table which shows the sentences handed out across the different alert levels.


Read: South Africa nears the point of no return

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